A NEW WORLD RECORD!!!!!

I’m sorry it has taken so long to update the blog, as I know so many of you have been waiting patiently but anxiously to read about my most recent exploits. Let’s just get right down to it then, shall we? If you’re reading this then I’m sure you have already heard, and have known for the past two months, that our Guinness World Record attempt was a great success, and we have established a new WORLD RECORD of some 846 miles! It feels absolutely amazing to know all the hard work that went into this project over the past 18 months was all worth it, and there are just sooooooo many people I need to thank for helping make this dream a reality, but we’ll get to that in a bit. Some really cool things have also happened in this past month since I broke the record, and some more are coming for the future. I’ll talk about all of it, so grab a caffeinated beverage of your choice, because this might take a while.

I really want to tell you about the whole experience first, but I really should start with my long list of “Thank You”s, because without every single one of the people I am about to recognize, this would not have been possible. First and foremost I need to thank my family. I know I have driven my beautiful, loving wife just a bit crazy over the past year or so. Regardless of how much of my attention I put on this project though, her support has never wavered. She even came up with a great way for us to celebrate, suggesting we visit a certain sparkly city. I also have to thank my parents and my brother Drew for coming up to Indiana from the Carolinas and spending the entire 24 hours at the track, and then some. Without a family like them I wouldn’t have dreamt of attempting something like this, let alone pulling it off. And when it came to pulling it off, I certainly could not have done that without my team. Jim Conlin and his guys at Adrenaline Fix Karting really are the best of the best. They had every detail of that kart covered, and anticipated every single problem we could have possibly had. And oh yeah, they never slept either. They were on the ball the entire 24 hours, outside, in the rain. I really cannot thank them enough for sticking with me and keeping that kart on track for an entire day. On that note, when it comes to keeping the kart on the track, that means keeping the driver on the track as well. For that I need to thank my training crew, and most importantly, Tim Park. He kicked my ass for the last year, and it paid off mega. Also a huge thanks has to Jim Leo at PitFit and Michael Folan at Infinit Nutrition for staying on top of my vitals and putting together a great nutritional plan. Believe it or not, I did almost the entire 24 hours on all liquid diet! I burned 7000 calories and took in 6000, and only ate one peanut butter and banana sandwich. The rest was all Infinit product. I also have to give a huge shout out to the folks who were there just because they thought it was awesome. Guys like Tim Spencer and Charlie Brown who were there simply to provide support and see something cool. For all they knew they could have been there just to see some idiot drive around for 24 hours for no reason, or not even make it the whole 24 hours. Regardless, they were there and they stayed the entire time. Tim even came out on track with me, and I really have to thank them for their unbelievable support. Tim and I go back to our days on the VT Formula SAE team, and it was really cool to see him there when I crossed the finish line. Charlie Brown came as the voice of Race Fan Radio to broadcast the event, and left as a friend. I also need to put Michelle Staley of the Tourette Syndrome Association in that group, along with her dad. They came out and where there at the start, the finish, and every point in between. They even brought a “Congratulations” cake, which unfortunately my stomach did not let me eat any of. Had I tried, it probably would have been some spectacular digestive pyrotechnics. I also need to thank my sponsors: AiM Sports, Ribtect, Hoosier Tires, MRP Motorsport, Robo-Pong, Infinit Nutrition, Gold’s Gym Silver Spring Maryland, PitFit Training, Adrenaline Fix Karting, David Lee Motorsports Media, VP Racing Fuels, K1 RaceGear, Schneider Corporation, RacelandINDY.com, Zamp Helmets, Ogden USA, and Allsports Grand Prix. Without all of them I would not be a new World Record holder. Last but not least, I need to thank New Castle Motorsports Park. Thank you to Mark Dismore for letting me do this at his track, and massive, massive thank you to Mike Adams and his staff at the track, especially Cody Doyle. Mike and Cody were with us the whole 24 hours and worked their asses off to make sure we had everything we needed. They didn’t rest until everybody was gone, several hours after we finished. They were simply awesome!

Now on to the part you’ve all been waiting for, how the event went down. I started my week in New Castle by dragging my loving, understanding wife to our first RoboPong 200. That race was just super cool, and I hope I can one day give it a shot and compete in that event. It was great to be there as a spectator for the weekend, and get in some media appearances in the lead up to the 24 Hours for TSA. We had the kart out on display in front of the Race Fan Radio tent where Charlie Brown and his crew were broadcasting live from the circuit for the duration of the two events. Between that and the blindingly white sweatshirts my wife made for us with the 24 Hours for TSA logo on it, we were able to get the word out about out world record effort to pretty much everybody there. The day after RoboPong, Jim Conlin and I got out on track to run in some new chains we were planning on using for the attempt, and get some final practice in before Tuesday’s 24 hour extravaganza. We also tested out our new headlight that Dave Creech rigged up for our overnight running. Everything went according to plan, the headlight worked glowingly, and we were all set for Tuesday. My family showed up around the time we were finishing up, and my brother and I were off to get two of the six light towers we were going to use so we could get those set up and figure out where we wanted to put the rest of them. Mike and Cody stuck with us until about 7pm getting them set up and tested out, and we determined where we wanted the other four. After having our own strobe light rave over in turn three, we headed off to dinner with my parents and our team. After a very unimpressive breast of chicken and a half gallon of water, it was off to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. YEAH RIGHT! Needless to say I was way to amped up to sleep.

Morning finally came and I was ready to go. After a banana and some Infinit Mud Mocha protein shake, we were off to the track. Charlie was there ready to greet me and put me on the air. I did some pre event interviews with him, as well as a couple of others, got in a pre event photo op, and we were off at precisely 10:03.

 The first stint went perfectly according to plan, but the second gave us some troubles. The engine started sputtering, and after a couple spark plug changes, we finally diagnosed the it as a battery issue. Jim and his guys threw a new battery on there it was up to me to make up the lost time. Our plan was to run 1 minute 15 second lap times during the daylight and then back it down to 1 minute 20 seconds over night. With us a bit behind the eight ball at this point, I decided 1:15’s weren’t going to cut it. I then took it upon myself to summon all of my considerable strength and skill to run only 8 seconds off pace instead of 15. Comfortably running 1:08’s we were making up the time quite well. Just when it was about time to start backing it down a bit, we realized rain was on the way over night, so I continued with the 1:08’s. We were on a torrid pace, poised to break the record with a good 4 hours remaining.

The Cyclops

During each stop, Tim Park and Jim Leo were keeping me stretched out, and Amber and my Mom were doing a great job keeping me hydrated, forcing a new Camel Bak into my suit at each stop. A little after midnight I could start to see that weather was on its way, as I could see the lightning and hear the thunder coming. At around 1am, I got the sign from Jim that said “Rain Coming.” All I could do was keep pushing as much as possible to get as much time in the bank as possible. Sure enough, around 2am, the rain came pouring down, and I mean pouring. We bolted some rain tires on and I headed back out for my first time driving a kart ever in the rain. IT WAS FUN! The first stint was possibly the most mentally draining thing I have ever done, and I managed an 85% on my Astromechanics final. Go karts are simply not meant to run in the rain at night, but I was not about to let that stop me. Once I got settled in and found my marks, I just did my best to keep the times under a 1:24. The rain made the overnight hours pretty tough, but helped keep me focused and attentive when I really wanted to take a nap. During one of our stops around 6am, I told Tim I really needed to stretch my legs, but that if I lied down I’d fall asleep. Tim figured out a couple ways for me to stretch standing up and I was back out on track before I knew it. After about six hours, three driving suits, and countless tear-offs, the rain finally started to lighten up a bit just in time for the stint that broke the record. We made a fuel stop about 30 laps before the record with the sun just starting to come up. It had stopped raining but the track was still soaked, so we left the rain tires on for the duration. I went out for the “record breaking” stint and once we had it, I let out the most ridiculous double fist pump of my career. Coming around the next lap, Jim handed me an American flag for my celebratory victory lap. I held onto that thing with all the strength I had left, and it was one of the best feelings in the world. After a couple quick interviews and a really cool congratulatory phone call from Ozz Negri, I was back out on track to put that record as far out there as possible. I remember the last 5 minutes pretty well. My body was ready for the 24 hours to be over, but my heart and my mind wished we had another hour to keep putting up numbers. At 10:03 on October 26^th I crossed the finish line and came to a stop on the front straight. Once my helmet was off, my mom, wife, and crew chief unleashed the champagne spray, and the celebration was on!

Left to right: Jim Conlin, Tracy Conlin, Dave Creech, Julie Conlin, Mike Unger, John Vaterro, Little brother Drew, Dad Bonnar, Wife Amber, Mom Joy

Me with trainer Tim and crew chief Jim

Thanks again to everybody who supported my efforts and followed along with my mindless babbling on this here blog. Everybody’s support and enthusiasm was absolutely amazing!

Crunch Time

With exactly three weeks left until I make my attempt at the 24 hour world record, it is definitely crunch time! Quite a bit has happened since I last randomly decided to scribble some stuff down to share with you back in early July, so I'll try my best not to leave anything out, as if you'd really know if I did.

Let me start with the ridiculously lucky break of getting PitFit Training and some of their partners involved in this project. For those of you who are unfamiliar, PitFit is a training facility (fancy two-word definition for GYM) in Indianapolis, which specializes in training professional athletes, and more specifically, racing drivers. Over half of the Indy Car and Indy Lights grids train with Jim Leo at PitFit, and you'll find out why shortly. Now you're probably wondering why I need PitFit involved when I've already got a trainer, and that's a very good question. Gold's Gym in Silver Spring, MD has been awesome in letting me work with Tim Park. He has got me in by far the best shape of my life, and definitely ready for the insanity that lies ahead. I even sent my workouts to Jim Leo at PitFit, and he said they were spot on, so Tim has done an absolutely awesome job in kicking my ass, I mean, preparing me for this attempt. A couple things were missing though as far as keeping my body in good running shape during my attempt, and that is where PitFit and their partners Infinit Nutrition and Polar USA come in. Jim and his guys will be on hand during my attempt to keep me stretched out and give me massages during my breaks from slowly poking my way around the New Castle asphalt. Infinit is, probably as I type, conjuring up a couple of different concoctions for me to drink throughout my 24 hours of strenuous activity. They are developing several different formulas of energy/protein/Trey-ade drink mix for me to guzzle down while I'm out on track. And finally, Polar will be outfitting me with a heart rate monitor, so Jim and his PitFit army can keep track of how quickly I am burring calories, so they know how much chicken and pasta to shove down my throat when I come in for a pit stop. Needless to say, this is turning into a pretty professional effort, and I haven't even gotten to the kart and team part of this already way to lengthy but super terrific an every way blog. Let's move on, shall we.

Perhaps the biggest news deals with the kart itself. A few pieces of metal welded together with 4 wheels, a seat, and a single cylinder engine may not seem that significant, but making sure I was equipped with the best ride available for this attempt was absolutely paramount, and once again, I got lucky! The fine folks at MRP Motorsport have been gracious enough to hand me the reins of one of their Rotax powered Birel karts for 24 hours of crrrrazy fun. Not to mention, they hand delivered it to me at the PanAm Rotax race at New Castle for me to test, but you'll hear about that wackiness very soon, I promise. As I mentioned before though, the Rotax Birel package really is the best of the best, and knowing I have that kind of equipment under me gives me that much more confidence going into this.



A cell phone shot of my new ride!

 On top of putting together the deal to drive the Birel provided by MRP, I also nailed down a top notch team to prep the kart and be my crew during the attempt. Adrenaline Fix Karting out of Columbus, OH will be making sure everything on that kart is good to go, and that all I have to worry about is sitting in that oh so comfortable fiberglass seat, pushing the shiny pedals, and turning that round thing in front of me that makes the kart go left and right...life is gooooood. Jim Conlin and his guys have done quite a few endurance races in their day, so my chances are starting to look better and better. Not to say that this is going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination, but as one of the most successful team owners in history, Roger Penske, once said, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." I know our preparation will be nothing short of the best, so hopefully we'll have the opportunity to grab ourselves some good luck!

As I mentioned before, MRP was nice enough to hand deliver our kart at the PanAm Rotax event that took place at New Castle Motorsports Park on the September 24-25 weekend. This made for a perfect opportunity to visit my newest sponsors over at PitFit and let Jim, not Tim, kick my ass, I mean, train me, for a change. Thus sparked an awesome trip to Indy filled with pull ups, sledge hammers, Rotax fun, and I-70 commuting. The weekend started off great with both of my flights being only a couple hours late, no harm, no foul. Once I got myself checked into the hotel Friday night it was quickly off to bed so I could be well rested for my session at PitFit the next morning. The session went really well, and I had the proverbial "time of my life" going through the most heinous full body circuit workout I have ever done. It had everything from swinging sledge hammers, to pulling 110lb tires, to giant tubes of water, and the more traditional pull ups and push ups. And they we did it a second time. And then a third. At that point I was at just the right amount of tired to get on the reaction time board. I can't remember what it's called, but its basically this 6'x6' vertical wall that you stand right in front of, facing it, and it has a bunch of little buttons on it that light up individually. When a light comes on, you push the button as quickly as possible, and another light comes on, and so on and so forth. It's basically Whack a Mole on crack! My first time through was pretty pitiful, as I'm told everybody's is, but it was a really good way to ensure that my reaction times were still sharp even though all the muscles in my body felt like jello. After PitFit it was off to the track to meet the Director of Operations at the track, Mike Adams, who has been just super freakin awesome to work with throughout the whole process. We talked about a few ideas we both had for the event and answered a few questions for each other that we both had. I also met with David Lee who is going to be providing video coverage of the entire 24 hours. This guy really knows his stuff, and I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like after it's all done. Like I said, this is turning into a pretty professional event, and I really can't thank everybody who has gotten involved nearly enough. With all the work everybody has put into this, I better not suck it up! Sunday was a little more PitFit then back out to the track to meet my team and pick up our kart. Jim Conlin, Adrenaline Fix Karting owner, was flying solo on this trip, so he was the only one I'll be working with that I actually got to meet, but what a great guy. If he says he's got good guys to help him out, that's all the reassurance I need. This guys is a class act from the word go, and I'm really looking forward to having his team turn the wrenches on the beat of a go kart we have been bequeathed. On Sunday I also got to meet somebody who has been one of my biggest fans since I made the announcement about the 24 hour attempt, which was great because I'm definitely one of his. Gary Carlton had flown in from his home in Italy to help a kid try to qualify for the Rotax Grands at this race, and we just happened to bump into each other in the paddock. Gary is a bit of a karting icon in the States, and is doing a damn fine job representing all of us patriotic karters over on the European karting tours, driving for the factory Zanardi team. He also turned out to be one of the nicest guys I've met. It was a real pleasure chatting with him at the track, and I hope he's able to finish his season strong with the Chiesa Corse guys over in Europe.

Now moving on to the best part of this utterly meaningless rambling. If you're still reading, you must be really bored at work, but thank you for the support! When Monday rolled around, it was time for our track test. Jim and I got out to the track at the crack of, well, not quite dawn, more like dawn and a half. We spent a couple hours prepping the kart and waiting for the track to finish drying from the rainy weekend, and then we got to work. We were able to get good fuel mileage numbers for a good range of speeds that we may need to run during our attempt. We also realized that at the somewhat relaxed pace we'll be running, the Hoosier tires hold up like champs. All in all it was a really productive test, and the best part was I really didn't feel like I had been driving at all. It looks like being a gym hermit for the past year might actually pay off. We also had a couple of guests while we were at the track. Rick Posson stopped by to offer his PR services. He'll be helping to promote the event around the Indianapolis and New Castle areas, so hopefully we can get some more people to come out and watch me zoom zoom around the race track for a full planetary rotation.

Ok this blog entry has gone on long enough, and seriously, if you are still reading, I hope you've been keeping yourself well hydrated and taking plenty of bathroom breaks. But once again, thank you all so much for your support through all of this. Hopefully in three weeks we can all celebrate a new world record, and even more importantly, a hefty new chunk of change for the Tourette Syndrome Association!

Tracks, Training and the Like

Well, quite a bit has happened since the last time you’ve all heard from me. Since February I have managed to marry the woman of my dreams, travel with said dream woman to London and Paris, move to Roanoke, VA, again with that pretty lady crazy enough to actually marry me, and I’ve actually made progress on this whole driving a go kart for 24 hours to raise money for charity thing. I will try to bring you back up to speed on everything, but if I leave something out, which I probably will, I sincerely apologize.

Needless to say, the event planning took a backseat during wedding/honeymoon time, but once I returned from Paris, where everybody is extremely nice and they actually like Americans much more than most Americans think, I was back at it trying to get everything put together so I can eventually sit on my butt and go really fast for one whole Earth’s rotation. By this point, the Guinness World Record organization had already accepted my application for the attempt (woohoo!), but there were some stipulations I did not anticipate having to deal with.

My original plan was to make my 24 hour attempt somewhat close to home. It turns out though, that the world record guidelines require that the track be between 0.75 and 1.25 miles in length, and be in regular use for karting events. Well, believe it or not, there is not a single track within 300 miles that fits that criteria, and has lights. So off I was in search of a track that was 0.75 – 1.25 miles, not too bumpy, not too twisty, capable of being lit, and oh yeah, had owners willing to let me parade around on their asphalt wonderland for 24 straight hours. Surprisingly, the search did not last long. I considered a few options, got a recommendation from a helpful supporter, made a phone call to Mark Dismore at New Castle Motorsports Park, and voila, venue, check. Mark talked to their track director Mike Adams about my little idea, they hashed out some of the details, and we came up with a date that would work well for everybody. At this point in this super awesome, totally radical, somewhat boring, completely overly wordy and full of run-on sentences but still super awesome blog, I am happy to announce that my world record attempt, the 24 Hours for TSA, will take place at New Castle Motorsports Park on October 25, 2011. There is also an article in eKartingNews.com announcing the event. Check it out, I’m in the news! New Castle, IN is a bit far from Roanoke, but the track is one of the best in the country, Mike and the Dismores have been really helpful and supportive in allowing me to do this, and we were able to conveniently place it two days after the Robopong 200. I’ve never been to that race before, so I’m looking forward to checking out my first Robopong.



New Castle Motorsports Park from overhead I-70

Other than finding a track and setting the date, most of my work on this has been keeping up with my training, and attempting to talk with teams about supporting the attempt. Hopefully that is something I can make an announcement about real soon, but for now I’ll have to leave you hanging on the edge of your seat in anticipation. As far as the training is concerned, Tim is keeping me very busy with constantly evolving workouts that definitely catch a few eyes at the Gold’s Gym down here in Roanoke. It’s really funny to see some of the strange looks I get when I put my head harness on to do my neck exercises. The neck muscles are crucial when driving a go kart. With a helmet on, your head weighs over 12 pounds. Now, multiply that by 2, 3, sometimes 4 G’s in the corners and that’s what I’ll have to hold up, 14 times a lap, for up to 1000 laps. I guess the best way to describe it is to imagine you’re lying on your side on a bench with your head hanging off the edge. Place a couple bowling balls on your temple, and try to hold your head level and not let it sag toward the ground. It’s about like that. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? The good thing is, people are curious and ask questions, and when I tell them what I’m training for, it only helps to get the word out even more. Exercise ropes are the same story. Although, with the ropes, I even got one of the trainers to come in on Saturdays and workout with me, just because he thought the ropes were awesome, which they are.

The Infamous Ropes!

I have heard from a few people recently that they are planning on traveling out to Indiana to watch me drive around in circles trying not to fall asleep. To everybody who is planning on coming out, you have no idea how much that would mean to me. I figured I’d be out there like a tumble weed in the middle of the desert (If a go kart driver sets a world record and nobody’s there to see it, does it still count?), but the more of you I have there cheering me on the better! As for the this often neglected, periodically interesting blog, I should have some testing days over the summer that I’m sure you will all be so eager to hear about, as well as hopefully announcing the team I am working with and what our chassis and engine package will be for the attempt.

Thank you everybody for your support, and hopefully I’ll have some more for you real soon!

Eight Hour Indoor Run

Welcome back to the overly wordy, almost interesting blog for my 24 Hours for TSA event. I'd like to start this entry off with a huge "thank you" too Francois Duret and his faithful army of track workers at Allsports Grand Prix in Dulles, VA. I will explain shortly why Francois is such a deserving recipient of my gratitude. I apologize for not keeping this blog very up to date, but I beg of you please forgive me for I have been focusing much of my recent free time helping my beautiful, lovable (and possibly slightly not all there in the head for actually wanting to marry me) fiance plan our wedding, which will be blasting off at the end of March. Hooray us!

At any rate, the purpose of this random blog entry is to give all of my faithful follower(s) a little insight into some of the training I have been doing to get myself prepared for 24 hours of insanity behind the wheel of my speedy little go kart. As I mentioned in my welcome post, driving a racing go kart is actually quite physically demanding. Add to that the focus it will take to stay on point for 24 straight hours, and it becomes a rather mentally taxing proposition as well. The more tired a person's body gets, the harder it is for their brain to process stimulus and react accordingly. As a result, my trainer and I have been working very hard to make 24 hours in a kart as physically "easy" as it possibly can be.

It is very important to get as much training in before I make my 24 hour world record attempt in October, and this includes doing as much driving as possible. Being in the Washington DC area, most go kart tracks, including Summit Point where I will be making my attempt, are not open during the winter months. The weather around here just isn't very conducive to driving a completely open vehicle at 70+ mph. This winter hasn't seen anything like the comically devastating "snowmagedon" event it saw last winter, but it is still a bit nippy nonetheless to be speedily parading around with nothing but a couple layers of nomex separating your skin from the piercing wind chill of sub 30 degree temperatures at 70 miles per hour. (In case you're wondering, this wind chill is in the neighborhood of -5 to +10 degrees Fahrenheit.) With this being the case, I set out to find and indoor go kart track that would allow me eight hours of uninterrupted track time. This is where my gratitude to Francois and his Allsports Grand Prix army comes in. Francois graciously allowed me the use of his state of the art indoor track to test my physical stamina and drive their go kart for eight monotonous hours straight.

As it turns out, a couple of things happen when you sit down on a vibrating vehicle for eight hours in a seat that is about as padded as John Basedow's abs. I didn't feel it when I was driving, but when I stood up afterward, my legs felt like jello. It was about the same as the feeling you get when you've been bed-ridden with the flu and haven't actually stood up for a few days, and then when you do, you think you're going to collapse. Surprisingly, walking was a bit difficult. My neck was also a bit sore but that was to be expected. With stopping only once to use the restroom, eat some chicken and a banana, and take an energy shot, I was able to make it the entire eight hours in pretty much a full sprint, and actually didn't feel too bad when I got out of the kart, apart from the hilarious jello leg syndrome of course. The ride home, however, was a different story. As I was driving back home, the physical enormity of what I had just done was starting to set in. The adrenaline eventually started to wear off and my entire body felt like I had barely survived an encounter with a rather large truck traveling at a rather high speed . A quick ice bath when I got home did a good job of numbing everything and I was able to sleep as well as a super tired baby. All in all I was fairly pleased with how the 8-hour run went, but realize that I have still got a lot of work to do before I can do that for an entire 24 hours.

As will likely become tradition here on Trey Shannon's super duper, radically awesome 24 Hours for TSA blog, I would like to end this post with a couple shout outs. Special thanks of course to Francois at Allsports Grand Prix for facilitating this random act of karting endurance splendor. I would also like to thank my trainer Tim of Gold's Gym in Silver Spring, MD for making sure the training fun never stops, and my body is sore improving 7 days a week. And I almost forgot, definitely need to give a big shout out to Robby Mott at Ribtect for hooking me up with a rib vest. After eight hours in the kart, my ribs are about the only part of my body that wasn't sore.

Hope everybody is doing well, and please stay tuned to http://www.kart24hour.org/ for event updates and, of course, totally meaningless, overwhelmingly exciting blog posts!

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the super awesome, totally exclusive, sometimes updated and never proofread blog for my 24 Hours for TSA world record attempt. I am Trey Shannon, your slow but determined go kart driver, expert fund raiser, and not to mention, expert ameteur novice blogger, and I will be updating this blog with the utmost dilligence so that you may follow along with every training day, every testing session, every sponsorship event, and every other exciting development along my road to the world record, or perhaps a few here and there.

Let me start by describing the TSA and what they are all about. TSA stands for Tourette Syndrome Association. They are a national non profit organization that exists for the purpose of raising awareness and research funds to benefit the effforts to discover the cause and find a cure for Tourette Syndrome. As somebody who has had Tourettes for 28 years now (not bad for a 26 year old, huh?), I am absolutely thrilled to be doing this fund raising event for them.

Driving a go kart for 24 hours straight (yes I will get to stop to pee if I need to) will require near superhuman strength and endurance. For those of you who have driven those speedy little go karts around at the local put-put mini golf center, well this is nothing like that. Driving a racing go kart is very physically and mentally taxing. It's about like trying to do calculus...on a stairmaster...in a sauna....holding a 50 pound weight above your head, and if you screw up somebody smacks you on the head with a block of concrete and takes a few thousand dollars out of your wallet to fix the stairmaster, erm, kart you just broke. But boy oh boy is it fun! 24 hours of this "fun" however, will take quite a physical effort, so that is why I have enlisted the help fo a personal trainer. Thanks to my local Gold's Gym, I have been training since November with their very own Tim Park, and I can already feel the difference. He's got me feeling better than ever and ready to train for another 9 months so that my arms don't fall off after the first 5 minutes of my world record attempt.

Yours truly grabbing the holeshot at the Halloween Grand Prix in Norway, IL - October 30, 2010

Hopefully I will have some more exciting announcements soon, so check back from time to time for updates. Until then, I want to give a special thanks to all my sponsors for helping me make this happen. Thanks to AiM Sports, Ribtect, Ogden USA, Hoosier Tires, Summit Point Kart, Zamp Helmets, and of course Rich Long and Tim Park at Gold's Gym in Silver Spring, MD. I'd also like to give a special thanks to Will Harrell for putting together the spectacular http://www.kart24hour.org/ website using his nifty iWeb program on his macbook. Feel free to harass him and tell him what an awesome job he has done. You can reach him at wharrell24@yahoo..... ah I'm not gonna do that to him (no wharrell24@yahoo.com is not his actual email address). But seriously though, everybody I've just mentioned has played a huge part in helping me get this project off the ground and I really look forward to working with all of them throughout the course of 2011 leading up to and including the 24 Hours for TSA event.

Hope you all enjoy this meaningless rambling as much as I enjoy writing it and I'll see you next time!